Six out of 10 super rich South Koreans with net assets topping 10 billion won ($8 million) have expanded or plan to expand investments in stocks this year instead of moving to deposits and other safe assets as they seek to buy lower-priced growth stocks with hopes for high profits later.

According to a survey conducted by Maeil Business Newspaper and Samsung Securities Co. Monday on 136 super-rich Koreans with assets of more than 10 billion won, 62.5 percent said they are adding or plan to add more stocks to their portfolio.

Of them, 64.7 percent said that they will expand ownership in growth stocks as mainly technology growth stocks that plunged last year will rebound sharply this year. They also picked value stocks, dividend stocks, and theme stocks as an investment source.

“Stock markets in major countries continued to remain weak last year, which led to a decline in the share prices,” said an unnamed official from Samsung Securities. “Super-rich individuals are focused on the so-called Buy The Sinking Spell strategy that focuses on buying cheap stocks.”

Analysts note that the aggressive strategy comes despite the high interest rate environment as investors believe investment will pay off in the long term.

According to the survey, 43.4 percent of the super-rich individuals expected a higher than 10 percent return rate and 39 percent between 5 and 10 percent. The wealthy individuals picked the U.S. (37.6 percent) as the most promising investment destination for stocks this year, followed by Korea at 34.1 percent.

By Cha Chang-hee and Choi Jieun

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]